Sex work among men who have sex with men and transgender women in Bogotá.

This qualitative study examined sex work among internally displaced male and transgender female sex workers in Bogotá, Colombia. Internal displacement has occurred in Colombia as a result of decades of conflict among armed groups and has created large-scale migration from rural to urban areas. Informed by the polymorphous model of sex work, which posits that contextual conditions shape the experience of sex work, we examined three main research questions. The first dealt with how internal displacement was related to the initiation of sex work; the second concerned the effect of agency on sex worker satisfaction; and the third examined how sex work in this context was related to HIV and other risks. Life history interviews were conducted with 26 displaced individuals who had done sex work: 14 were men who have sex with men and 12 were transgender women (natal males). Findings revealed that many participants began doing sex work in the period immediately after displacement, because of a lack of money, housing, and social support. HIV risk was greater during this time due to limited knowledge of HIV and inexperience negotiating safer sex with clients. Other findings indicated that sex workers who exerted more control and choice in the circumstances of their work reported greater satisfaction. In addition, we found that although many sex workers insisted on condom use with clients, several noted that they would sometimes have unprotected sex for additional money. Specific characteristics affecting the experience of sex work among the transgender women were also discussed.

Administering gender: Trans men's sexual and reproductive challenges in Argentina.

BACKGROUND: There is dearth of experiential information about transgender men's sexual and reproductive rights needs and challenges in Argentina, a country that passed the first, and then most comprehensive, Gender Identity Law. Local rules, and administrative, social service, and medical policies fail to meet the transformative scope of the law, thus, creating a tension between trans identity recognition, and medical services. AIMS: This study aimed to illustrate Argentinean trans men's challenges with the medical and healthcare system, when seeking to become pregnant, in prenatal care, or when needing an abortion. METHODS: This study sought to counter exploitative research engagement on potentially vulnerable populations. It did so through examining newspaper coverage of trans men's self-representation. Following online media searches, the authors identified three trans men's public narratives about accessing medical services. The authors utilized thematic analysis to develop themes based on the men's accounts of experiences related to administrative violence. RESULTS: Themes developed focused on (mis)gendering by medical staff, either inadvertently or intentionally, as well as the layers of institutional violence lived by the trans men vis a vis the laws and public policies already in place. DISCUSSION: The paper closes by discussing implications for clinical services. It seeks to question implementations that center cisgender experiences, in order to take into account other identities, bodies and experiences.

LGBT Studies Without LGBT Studies: Mapping Alternative Pathways in Perú and Colombia.

Our article tackles gender and sexual diversity scholarship in Colombia and Perú, two countries without institutionalized LGBT studies programs. By analyzing the impact of literary works in Perú and an annual conference in Colombia's capital, we show how LGBT-related scholarship (and activism) has been advanced in these Andean countries with tactful maneuvering, as they offset contemporary violence-and a strong religious influence. Our comparison allows us to showcase two of the most common ways through which these countries have engaged in LGBT research and activism. This region-centered, dual-country approach underscores the broader need of researching and documenting these efforts.

"Maricón," "pájaro," and "loca": Cuban and Puerto Rican linguistic practices, and sexual minority participation, in U.S. Santería.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States are, to varying degrees, practitioners of the Afro-Cuban religion popularly known as Santería. Cuban and Puerto Rican forms of referencing LGBT populations are illustrated in this article, which is drawing from interviews and participant observation conducted in the United States, with close to 30 practitioners, many of whom were Cuban, Cuban American, and Puerto Rican. I discuss the ways in which Santería gatherings produce an alternative use of otherwise stigmatized language for "gay" practitioners. Through the use of distinctive language to reference all of these populations, we may rethink the relationship between identities and practices, and within that, gender presentations vis a vis identities.